|
| |
| |
| |
|
Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 629 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 1196624 |
| Visitors Out: 1189 |
| Total Visitors Out: 1189 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| Geopolitical Imbalances |
| 2008-05-10 16:06:47 |
A state’s great power status resides in the flow of cheap oil, argues Michael Klare, author of the newly published Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy. With oil prices hitting another high of $123 this week, and predictions of it hitting $200 over the next two years, the overall impact on [...]...
|
| |
|
| Constitutional Monarchy |
| 2008-05-09 14:13:00 |
Here’s a surprise. The Russian Duma overwhelmingly approved Putin as Prime Minister. Okay, it’s not that surprising. The Communists did hold to their word to vote against him. Out of the possible 450 votes, Putin got 392, all 56 Communist reps voted against him. Two Duma members weren’t present to cast [...]...
|
| |
|
| Red Army WWII Vet + Zionism = Marxist Likudnik |
| 2008-05-09 13:09:28 |
Meet Don Kozlents. This octogenarian medal of valor holder is one of the millions of Red Army veterans of WWII. Like so many others, most of his family perished at the hands of the Nazis. He fought in the Battle of Kursk, where he was wounded when he crawled out of a [...]...
|
| |
|
| The Bald-Hairy Theory of Russian Leaders |
| 2008-05-08 09:36:32 |
The Bald-Hairy Theory of Russian Leaders. I guess this is kind of like how every odd numbered Star Trek movie sucks. Anyway, this is courtesy of Veronica Khokhlova’s run down of Russian Live Journal reactions to Medvedev’s inauguration. It also seems that there are good and bad sides to Kremlin Inc. [...]...
|
| |
|
| Soviet Agitation Trials |
| 2008-05-06 13:15:34 |
Robert Amsterdam’s blog has a translation of a fascinating Kommersant Vlast’ article (the Russian version is here along with some great photos.) on one of the more peculiar forms of early Soviet propaganda: the agitation trial. The article argues that agitsudy were one of the ways “the Bolsheviks managed to change the attitude of [...]...
|
| |
|
| Two Days and Counting . . . |
| 2008-05-05 10:17:50 |
Two days and counting before Dmitri Medvedev can lose the “elect” that sits after of his moniker President. The ceremony promises to be lavish and well choreographed. And why not? You can’t have a king without a coronation. But the question on everyone’s mind is not what Dima will do in [...]...
|
| |
|
| GUM Stuck on Nashi |
| 2008-05-04 11:49:30 |
How does a 20 year old girl from Kostroma with no training in fashion design, start her own line of clothing and open a store in Moscow’s swanky GUM? You get Nashi to back you. As Marina Kamenev’s profile of Nashi designer Antonia Shapovalova explains, hooking up with Nashi can take you far. Farther [...]...
|
| |
|
| Putinisms to Remember Putin By |
| 2008-05-03 14:24:19 |
“What a mighty man he turns out to be! He raped 10 women; I’d never have expected that from him. He surprised us all — we all envy him!” Few Russia watchers will forget this quip Putin in 2006 in reference to Israeli President Moshe Katsav’s rapist proclivities. Nor will his “If they’re in [...]...
|
| |
|
| Cutting Smoke and Smashing Mirrors |
| 2008-05-03 13:47:03 |
The Litvinenko Affair continues to be the story that just won’t go away. Perhaps for good reason. The British and Russians have done a lot of diplomatic posturing as a result. So much so that it’s appropriate to say that Litvinenko’s death was the beginning of a renewed souring between the two [...]...
|
| |
|
| Surveying Putin’s Generation |
| 2008-05-03 12:50:50 |
At some point, I don’t know when, Martin Luther proclaimed, “Who has the youth, has the future.” If this is true, then Putin has assured that his “plan” will continue well after Russia’s youth grow up and take the reigns of power. But Putin’s success in capturing the youth isn’t because of Nashi. It is [...]...
|
| |
|
| Consequences for Caricatures |
| 2008-05-02 17:01:10 |
I stumbled across Shaun Walker’s “No Laughing Matter: Cartoons and the Kremlin” while perusing Kompromat.ru. I only realized after a few minutes that the article was originally published in the Independent and translated for InoPressa.ru (interestingly without the above caricature).
No laughing matter indeed. As noted Russian cartoonist Mikhail Zlatkovsky tells Walker, what was once permitted [...]...
|
| |
|
| Vladimir Velikii |
| 2008-05-02 11:39:05 |
Sandwiched between the Dalai Lama and Barack Obama on Time’s 100 Most Influential Leaders and Revolutionaries is, for some, a rather unlikely figure: Vladimir Putin. Time already ignited insult and outrage in December when it had the gumption to name Putin its Person of the Year. (The hawks in Washington were hoping for [...]...
|
| |
|
| A Conspiracy Behind the Rumor? |
| 2008-05-01 13:30:39 |
The political fallout from Moskovskii Korrespondent’s rumor about Putin dumping his wife Liudmila for contortionist extraordinaire and Olympic medalist Alina Kabaeva is taking political shape. Last Friday, the Duma passed an amendment to the mass media law that adds slander to the list of unmentionables such as revealing state secrets, supporting terrorism, advocating pornography, and [...]...
|
| |
|
| Recommended Reading |
| 2008-04-22 13:57:16 |
Two of my favorite magazines, the London Review of Books and Vanity Fair, have two must read articles on Russia in their recent additions. Vanity Fair’s annual “Green Issue” is full of amazing articles, particularly Phillippe Sands’ well researched article “The Green Light,” which exposes how White House lawyers “legalized” the use of torture.
In [...]...
|
| |
|
| Deconstructing Nashi |
| 2008-04-21 17:23:42 |
My latest article for the eXile, “Nashi: Is it Really the End?” is now online. Here is an excerpt:
This year, there has been much speculation in the Russian print media about the demise of the Kremlin youth organization “Nashi,” which has been as much a darling of the Russian state as it has been [...]...
|
| |
|
| The Face of the “Killer” |
| 2008-04-16 19:46:49 |
The investigation into Anna Politkovskaya murder took another turn yesterday when the Russian news site Life.ru published the photo of the main suspect. According to the website, the suspect, Rustam Makhmudov, the older brother of three individuals arrested by Russian authorities in August, is said to be hiding in London. Life.ru doesn’t say [...]...
|
| |
|
| Gensek Putin |
| 2008-04-15 12:58:15 |
Delegates at United Russia’s 9th Congress voted unanimously to make Putin its party chairman. Putin accepted. Surprise, surprise. This possibility has been buzzing around the Russian media for a few weeks now. And in one fail swoop, what was thought to merely be a shell of a political party, has gained importance. Clearly [...]...
|
| |
|
| KPRF takes a stand, Democrats unite, and “Ukraine is not even a state!” |
| 2008-04-09 13:45:07 |
The post election political lull appears to be over as Russia’s politicians gear up for Medvedev’s presidency. As everyone already knows, Medvedev is expected to nominate Putin as Prime Minister. No one expected any opposition to this, since denying Putin dominance over Russian politics is like preventing tidal wave from hitting the shore. [...]...
|
| |
|
| “Avoiding this heap of memes” |
| 2008-04-07 13:12:13 |
Michael Idov’s “The Hibernation” has received cheers and jeers from SRB readers. One of the issues Idov’s article raises is the difficultly in reporting on Russia. In Idov’s view the real challenge is to talk about Russia without using the “heap of memes” handed down by decades of Cold War. I couldn’t agree more. Here [...]...
|
| |
|
| Nashi Hits the Runway |
| 2008-04-07 12:47:14 |
Patriotic panties for Putin. That is basically the idea behind Nashi wear designed by model, fashion designer, and commissar Anatonia Shapovalova. Shapovalova’s patriotic fashion line for Nashi activists debuted last summer at Camp Seliger and caused a sensation in December when Nashistki strutted the catwalk bearing more than just the slogan “Vova! I’m [...]...
|
| |
|
| “Putin’s historic achievement” |
| 2008-04-05 03:41:53 |
Michael Idov’s ” The Hibertation” in the New Republic is a must read.
The New Republic
The Hibernation by Michael Idov
Meet Dmitri Medvedev, a docile president for a docile Russia.
Post Date Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Minutes after the polls closed on March 2 in the westernmost Russian city of Kaliningrad–certifying a blowout victory by presidential candidate Dmitri Anatolyevich [...]...
|
| |
|
| The Right but not the Desire to Return |
| 2008-04-04 13:54:26 |
Russia and Israel have a rather interesting relationship. Political relations between the countries have been cool for decades, but the increase of Russian immigration and travel to the Jewish nation has inevitably complicated the two nation’s cultural and social ties. It’s estimated that well over a million Russians have immigrated to Israel since the collapse [...]...
|
| |
|
| Litvinenko Murder Saga Continues |
| 2008-04-03 15:33:22 |
The recent flurry in the comments section over the polonium poisoning of Aleksandr Litvinenko has inspired me to revisit the issue. When I last left the case, it was reveled that Litvinenko was on retainer with MI6. Andrei Lugovoi, Britain’s chief suspect in the crime, was listed as a Duma candidate on the LDPR ticket. [...]...
|
| |
|
| Medvedev in the Financial Times |
| 2008-03-25 10:21:41 |
The Financial Times has an exclusive interview with Russian President elect Dmitri Medvedev. Watch the video or read the transcript. Dima is going to have to work on that delivery. His speech is monotone. His words are technical, almost cold. He lacks the wit of Putin but also the Russian machismo. [...]...
|
| |
|
| The Community Strikes Back |
| 2008-03-21 02:26:35 |
English and Russian language blogs unite! LJ users calling for a content strike! I recommend checking out Veronica Khokhlova’s “LiveJournal: Bloggers Protest Basic Account Cancellation” for the whole story. I love the Russian’s “radical path.” Khokhlova tells us:
Some Russian-language bloggers have chosen to take a more radical path, proposed (RUS) by [...]...
|
| |
|
| Discussing the “Dark Double” |
| 2008-03-17 10:00:08 |
Washington Profile has an interesting interview with Professor David Foglesong about his book The American Mission and the ‘Evil Empire’: The Crusade for a ‘Free Russia’ since 1881. I reviewed Foglesong’s book here a few months ago. Below are a few excerpts from the interview that I found interesting and pertinent to understanding where America’s [...]...
|
| |
|
| In the Times |
| 2008-03-14 02:35:41 |
There is an interview with me in “Under Western Eyes,” an article on English language Russia blogs for the Moscow Times. I especially like this line about myself. “Despite being recognized at parties and quoted in the press, Guillory is a little uncomfortable about his success.” Parties? Quoted in the press? [...]...
|
| |
|
| The Rise of the “Civiliki” and Provincial Elite Warfare |
| 2008-03-08 15:26:54 |
Western leaders have been hoping and praying that Dmitri Medvedev will be more “liberal” in foreign and domestic policy. According to a LexisNexis search the new President elect’s name is often followed with words like “liberal,” “liberal instincts,” “liberal inclinations,” and the like. It’s not that Medvedev hasn’t given Westerners any reason to hope. Take [...]...
|
| |
|
| Cracking Open the Kremlin |
| 2008-03-07 13:01:05 |
The BBC World Service has done a number of radio documentaries on Russia and Putin. The Kremlin and the World is a four part series on Russia’s relationship with its “near abroad,” energy politics, Europe, and the United States. The second series, After the KGB, chronicles the fall and rise of the Russian secret [...]...
|
| |
|
| Russian Academia Under Fire |
| 2008-03-07 03:01:10 |
My new eXile article, “Russian Academia Under Fire,” is now online. Here is an excerpt:
On any given day, the Russian media is filled with reports of restaurants, clubs, factories, hospitals, schools, and apartments succumbing to the searing flames of Vulcan. Casualties are common. Fire is often the result of teenage pyromaniacs, defective wiring, discarded [...]...
|
| |
|
| Golos Wins in Court |
| 2008-03-07 01:43:49 |
A local branch of the Russian human rights group Golos Samara won a significant legal victory yesterday. According to Kommersant, the Russian Supreme Court ruled in favor of Golos in a suit filed by the Samara branch of the Federal Registration Office, FAS. FAS registers social, religious, and political organizations. The court ruled [...]...
|
| |
|
| Sergei Kovalev, “Open Letter to:” |
| 2008-03-04 18:44:42 |
Letter">Open letter to:
Открытое письмо:
Vladimir Putin, President of Russian Federation
Vladimir Churov, Chairman of Central Election Commission of Russian Federation
Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation
Gentlemen, I have no doubt that you are well aware that the free expression of the will of free citizens via free democratic elections can never result [...]...
|
| |
|
| Why Putvedev? |
| 2008-03-04 15:36:33 |
My latest contribution to Pajamas Media “Why Putvedev?” is up. There isn’t much new in it for frequent readers of this blog. Hopefully, it will give a wider audience a different opinion about the Russian Presidential Elections. Also I highly recommend Andrew Wilson’s analysis, “Russia’s Post-election Balance” on Open Democracy. It [...]...
|
| |
|
| Vybor Awards |
| 2008-03-04 05:06:44 |
Every genre of the entertainment world has its own award shows. Theater has the Tony. Movies the Oscars. Music the Grammys. Why not elections? I bet the Russian election is a cesspool of some classic moments. So . . .
For his role in “Take him out . . . And shoot the [...]...
|
| |
|
| “Most Russians do not love Putin per se, but they love Putin’s Russia.” |
| 2008-03-02 13:06:42 |
Russian Election Day has come and gone. Finally. Nevertheless, the mandarins of the American media are dutifully filling column inches with reports about Russia. Sadly, like most reporting on the Slavic nation, one you read one, you’ve pretty much read them all. The Washington Post is a typical example of how little [...]...
|
| |
|
| Personality Cash Cow |
| 2008-02-28 18:46:32 |
T-minus three days and counting. Russians will go to the polls on Sunday to cast their votes for a new President. But one shouldn’t get to carried away with the casting votes part. Yes, Russians will vote, but no one has any doubt who the victor will be. Dmitri Medvedev will be the third President [...]...
|
| |
|
| Monetary Middle Class |
| 2008-02-28 15:52:11 |
The Russian “middle class” remains an elusive and rather unclear category. It’s an entity that is recognized, but what exactly are its contours is rarely clearly defined. Kommersant has fitted one piece into the Russian middle class puzzle. The Russian middle class, at least as defined by Kommersant, is purely monetary. I’ve [...]...
|
| |
|
| A Geneology of “Putinism” |
| 2007-12-23 02:50:56 |
As the sun begins to set on Putin’s Presidency and his direct personal sway over Russia’s future is still undetermined, there is one legacy we can count on. A new “-ism” called Putinism.
With the help of LexisNexis, I’ve been trying to track down the first appearance of this supposed ideology attached to the person [...]...
|
| |
|
| Putin’s Time |
| 2007-12-20 11:49:52 |
Time’s Person of the Year. Who would have thunk it? Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin joins Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Mikhail Gorbachev. Three other Russian leaders who’ve received the honor.
Stalin was named twice, in 1939 and 1942. The first for “dramatically switching the power balance of Europe one August night” when the vozhd’ [...]...
|
| |
|
| Don Putin |
| 2007-12-18 15:19:24 |
Two iconic moments in television and film come to mind as I read Putin’s acceptance to be Prime Minister if his protege Dima becomes President. The first is the affable Gomer Pile ironically declaring as he often did, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.” Yes, a list Gomeric surprises since no one was really shocked by Putin [...]...
|
| |
|
| |
 |
